I'll write this over the next day or so
[Overview]
<p>Snover is the only legal Pokemon that can summon permanent weather in Underused, making him a mandatory member of a hail team. Unfortunately, Snover is a pretty terrible Pokemon, with not a single stat higher than Base 62. It's quite challenging to make Snover into a useful threat on a hail team. At least with its decent Grass / Ice typing and Eviolite, it can carve a small niche for itself as a Bulky Water check that can set up weather on these threats with relative impunity. However, Snover will always be limited by the relative weakness of his attacks as well as his vulnerability to Stealth Rock and super-effective attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Hail Support
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Blizzard
move 3: Protect / Substitute
move 4: Giga Drain / Substitute
item: Eviolite
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set is Snover's best chance at doing something once it has set up Hail. With this spread and Eviolite, Snover has 323 HP and 235 Special Defense, which gives it enough bulk to set up on the metagame's bulky water types such as Swampert, Blastoise, Suicune, and Milotic. With the given Special Attack, Snover has enough power to check a variety of Pokemon - for example, Raikou is 2HKOed by Blizzard, and without Aura Sphere it can't do too much back. Most of Snover's job is done once Snow Warning has activated, but this set aims to accomplish as much as it can while it's in play.</p>
<p>Leech Seed is a good support move in general and something that sets Snover apart from other members of a Hail team. Blizzard is the obligatory STAB attack, which, due to its high Base Power, does decent damage despite coming from a mere 245 Special Attack stat. The last two moves Snover runs depends on whether or not you want to take out Water types directly, what kind of attacks you want to scout, and personal preference. Protect buys a turn of Leech Seed recovery and allows you to scout for Choice attackers. Substitute won't help much for scouting unless used on a predicted switch, but Snover is a decent executor of the SubSeed strategy, sapping HP with both Leech Seed and Hail damage. Most bulky waters cannot break the Substitute in one hit, allowing Snover to stall them out. Giga Drain allows you to directly combat Bulky Waters, sometimes OHKOing Swampert and sometimes 2HKOing Blastoise, while also healing Snover a little bit.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are carefully optimized to ensure Snover has the potential to do something before it dies. 248 HP and 8 Special Defense ensures that Suicune, Blastoise, and Milotic cannot break a Snover Substitute with their 0 SpA Ice Beams. Special Attack is maximized as its the only real way that Snover can hit things, and extra defensive investment doesn't go far enough to offset the difference in power. One can choose to reallocate HP EVs to Speed in order to outrun Relaxed or Impish Swampert - you need 96 and 164 Speed EVs respectively to accomplish this. Outrunning Swampert lets you KO it with Giga Drain before it can set up Stealth Rock, but your bulk takes a notable hit for a very specific situation. Special Defense investment is also possible, but you really need all of the Special Attack investment in order to do anything.</p>
(more coming)
<p>Snover doesn't really have much else it can do. A Choice Band set is perhaps the most interesting option. Snover has access to Wood Hammer and Ice Shard, which give it much needed power and priority, but it is still easily walled and losing Eviolite makes Snover much harder to use effectively. Other than that, Shadow Ball is an option to attempt to beat Froslass before it sets up on your team... and that's about it.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
[Overview]
<p>Snover is the only legal Pokemon that can summon permanent weather in Underused, making him a mandatory member of a hail team. Unfortunately, Snover is a pretty terrible Pokemon, with not a single stat higher than Base 62. It's quite challenging to make Snover into a useful threat on a hail team. At least with its decent Grass / Ice typing and Eviolite, it can carve a small niche for itself as a Bulky Water check that can set up weather on these threats with relative impunity. However, Snover will always be limited by the relative weakness of his attacks as well as his vulnerability to Stealth Rock and super-effective attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Hail Support
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Blizzard
move 3: Protect / Substitute
move 4: Giga Drain / Substitute
item: Eviolite
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set is Snover's best chance at doing something once it has set up Hail. With this spread and Eviolite, Snover has 323 HP and 235 Special Defense, which gives it enough bulk to set up on the metagame's bulky water types such as Swampert, Blastoise, Suicune, and Milotic. With the given Special Attack, Snover has enough power to check a variety of Pokemon - for example, Raikou is 2HKOed by Blizzard, and without Aura Sphere it can't do too much back. Most of Snover's job is done once Snow Warning has activated, but this set aims to accomplish as much as it can while it's in play.</p>
<p>Leech Seed is a good support move in general and something that sets Snover apart from other members of a Hail team. Blizzard is the obligatory STAB attack, which, due to its high Base Power, does decent damage despite coming from a mere 245 Special Attack stat. The last two moves Snover runs depends on whether or not you want to take out Water types directly, what kind of attacks you want to scout, and personal preference. Protect buys a turn of Leech Seed recovery and allows you to scout for Choice attackers. Substitute won't help much for scouting unless used on a predicted switch, but Snover is a decent executor of the SubSeed strategy, sapping HP with both Leech Seed and Hail damage. Most bulky waters cannot break the Substitute in one hit, allowing Snover to stall them out. Giga Drain allows you to directly combat Bulky Waters, sometimes OHKOing Swampert and sometimes 2HKOing Blastoise, while also healing Snover a little bit.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are carefully optimized to ensure Snover has the potential to do something before it dies. 248 HP and 8 Special Defense ensures that Suicune, Blastoise, and Milotic cannot break a Snover Substitute with their 0 SpA Ice Beams. Special Attack is maximized as its the only real way that Snover can hit things, and extra defensive investment doesn't go far enough to offset the difference in power. One can choose to reallocate HP EVs to Speed in order to outrun Relaxed or Impish Swampert - you need 96 and 164 Speed EVs respectively to accomplish this. Outrunning Swampert lets you KO it with Giga Drain before it can set up Stealth Rock, but your bulk takes a notable hit for a very specific situation. Special Defense investment is also possible, but you really need all of the Special Attack investment in order to do anything.</p>
(more coming)
- Max Special Attack gives Snover his best chance of accomplishing something.
- EVs ensure that Suicune / Blastoise / Milotic never break its Substitute with 0 SpA Ice Beam
- Speed investment for Relaxed / Impish Swampert (96 / 164) can come out of HP, letting you KO lead Swampert before it can set up Stealth Rock, but your bulk takes a notable hit.
- Special Defense is possible to invest in, but Snover becomes even more useless that way.
- Snover should only be used on teams that take advantage of Hail, and its partners should be picked carefully.
- Offensively, good spammers of Blizzard include Rotom-F, Jynx, Sheer Force Nidoking / Nidoqueen, and Froslass.
- Defensively, a hail team can take advantage of Ice Body Walrein to stall opponents to death.
- Both styles of play benefit from entry hazards from Spikes Froslass
- Either style of team needs adequate coverage of Fire, Fighting, and Rock type attacks. Nidoqueen can handle both of the latter, while Pokemon like Porygon2, Snorlax, and Arcanine can all handle Fire attacks.
<p>Snover doesn't really have much else it can do. A Choice Band set is perhaps the most interesting option. Snover has access to Wood Hammer and Ice Shard, which give it much needed power and priority, but it is still easily walled and losing Eviolite makes Snover much harder to use effectively. Other than that, Shadow Ball is an option to attempt to beat Froslass before it sets up on your team... and that's about it.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
- In terms of what Snover aims to do (set up permanent hail) it has no "true" counters - nothing else sets up permanent weather in UU.
- Setting up Rain Dance or Sunny Day will end Hail until Snover comes back into play. Tornadus is the most common Rain Dancer in UU, but it is weak to Ice.
- Bronzong is perhaps the perfect counter - can set up weather, resists both STAB attacks, and hits back with a STAB SE Steel attack.
- Snorlax works similarly, but Leech Seed and Giga Drain put a bit of a dent into it.
- Specially Defensive Rhyperior, if it's faster, can check even Substitute Snover with Rock Blast.
- Snover hates Super-Effective hits, especially from the physical side, so once you bring in any reasonably strong Pokemon on Snover, it's done for.
- Setting up Stealth Rock is important if you aim to wear down Snover as it constantly comes in to replenish its weather type.
[Overview]
name: Hail Support
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Blizzard
move 3: Protect / Substitute
move 4: Giga Drain / Substitute
item: Eviolite
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
- Almost worthless pre-evolution of Abomasnow.
- All Hail teams must use a slot on Snover, so the challenge is to give Snover something to accomplish before it dies.
- Decent defensive typing lets it set up on Bulky Waters for free.
- Weakness of attacks and vulnerability to Stealth Rock limit its usefulness.
name: Hail Support
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Blizzard
move 3: Protect / Substitute
move 4: Giga Drain / Substitute
item: Eviolite
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
- With Eviolite, Snover has 323 HP and 235 Special Defense, allowing it to set up on Pokemon such as Swampert, Blastoise, Slowbro, and Suicune.
- This Snover can actually compete with non-Aura Sphere Raikou, nearly 2HKOing with Blizzard, though it's not a reliable switch in.
- Most of this set's job is done once it comes in due to Snow Warning - the challenge is to make Snover useful before it goes down.
- Leech Seed is a good move to throw on the switch, giving your next Pokemon a bit of HP as it comes in.
- Blizzard gets STAB and has a high base power, which helps make up for Snover's terrible Special Attack stat.
- Your choice of last two moves depends on whether or not you want to take down certain Water types, what kind of attacks you expect to scout, and preference.
- Protect is useful for stalling for a turn and scouting out Choice users, particularly against lead Choice Scarfers.
- Substitute allows Snover to potentially set up a SubSeed strategy, with Hail damage whittling at the opposition.
- Giga Drain puts the hurt on Bulky Waters, sometimes OHKOing Swampert and sometimes 2HKOing Blastoise.
- Max Special Attack gives Snover his best chance of accomplishing something.
- EVs ensure that Suicune / Blastoise / Milotic never break its Substitute with 0 SpA Ice Beam
- Speed investment for Relaxed / Impish Swampert (96 / 164) can come out of HP, letting you KO lead Swampert before it can set up Stealth Rock, but your bulk takes a notable hit.
- Special Defense is possible to invest in, but Snover becomes even more useless that way.
- Snover should only be used on teams that take advantage of Hail, and its partners should be picked carefully.
- Offensively, good spammers of Blizzard include Rotom-F, Jynx, Sheer Force Nidoking / Nidoqueen, and Froslass.
- Defensively, a hail team can take advantage of Ice Body Walrein to stall opponents to death.
- Both styles of play benefit from entry hazards from Spikes Froslass
- Either style of team needs adequate coverage of Fire, Fighting, and Rock type attacks. Nidoqueen can handle both of the latter, while Pokemon like Porygon2, Snorlax, and Arcanine can all handle Fire attacks.
- Choice Band Wood Hammer and Ice Shard present an interesting offensive option that gives Snover some priority and much needed power, but without being able to take advantage of Blizzard, the set is easily walled. Losing Eviolite really hurts too.
- A Hidden Power could give coverage on something 4X weak to a particular attack, but it's too weak otherwise.
- Shadow Ball lets you attempt to beat Froslass before it can do too much damage to your team.
- In terms of what Snover aims to do (set up permanent hail) it has no "true" counters - nothing else sets up permanent weather in UU.
- Setting up Rain Dance or Sunny Day will end Hail until Snover comes back into play. Tornadus is the most common Rain Dancer in UU, but it is weak to Ice.
- Bronzong is perhaps the perfect counter - can set up weather, resists both STAB attacks, and hits back with a STAB SE Steel attack.
- Snorlax works similarly, but Leech Seed and Giga Drain put a bit of a dent into it.
- Specially Defensive Rhyperior, if it's faster, can check even Substitute Snover with Rock Blast.
- Snover hates Super-Effective hits, especially from the physical side, so once you bring in any reasonably strong Pokemon on Snover, it's done for.
- Setting up Stealth Rock is important if you aim to wear down Snover as it constantly comes in to replenish its weather type.
